Email Marketing Made Easy

No 'Spam' - Just Targeted Personal Communications

Email marketing has undergone drastic changes in perception over recent years. One indisputable fact remains, when done in a thoughtful and sensitive manner, email marketing can yield better exposure, happier and more informed customers, and increased web site traffic, leads, and sales. That's why NetCentric provides only lawful and ethical (CAN-SPAM compliant), opt-in, email marketing services.

How Does Email Marketing Work?
Email marketing enables you to communicate important messages, promotional offers, and establish expertise with your clients, prospects, and the buying public. One of the most effective methods of email marketing comes in the form of a regular informative communication like a newsletter, white paper, technical paper, editorial, or other useful information.

Naturally, it is possible to simply send out a promotional offer. But, supplementing a message with informative content helps assert yourself as an industry expert, enhance your credibility, educate your consumers, and give them the feeling of receiving value - not just another advertisement. With regular email contact, you can establish front-of-mind brand recognition for your products, services, and company; generate interest; and drive better qualified consumers to your web site.

Sample of a common email marketing
interface for building customer communications.

What is Opt-in?
An opt-in email list contains only addresses of people whom have requested information on a given topic of interest. A true opt-in list always gives the mail recipient the option of 'opting-out' or unsubscribing from the list. Does this approach still provide for an effective campaign? Absolutely. In fact, the CAN-SPAM law of 2004 will likely increase email effectiveness by forcing organizations to better target their consumers.

How Do I Get Started?
An email marketing campaign begins with a well researched list. The mailing list is composed of names, email addresses, and other information gathered about your prospects. Lists can be in-house lists (current and past customers and prospects) or lists can be purchased or leased.

Leased Lists
Leased lists usually contain names and addresses of people whom have requested information on a given topic. These lists can be business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) in nature and are typically divisible into logical demographic segments by topic. Leased lists are typically managed by their vendors to guard against repeated and unauthorized use. In other words, rarely will you see the actual names and addresses on the list because the vendors require you to use their mailing system. NetCentric only uses targeted leased lists from certified opt-in vendors and in-house lists for its mail campaigns. This process ensures compliance with anti-spam laws and that only interested recipients who expect contact receive your message.

Sample of an common email marketing
interface for building and maintaining customer mailing lists.

A List You Don't Want On
One sure way to get in trouble with email marketing is send your offer to a purchased list. Lists that are purchasable are usually made up of email addresses that were 'harvested' from web sites and other sources. In other words, no permission or desire to receive messages was granted or implied by the people on the list. In almost all cases, messages sent out to a purchased list can be considered spam (unauthorized email solicitation). Because these lists are not targeted and are not portioned into logical demographic segments, their effectiveness is negligible. However, the ire generated from the use of a purchased list is formidable. One angry recipient can result in your company being banned as a 'spammer', your web site being shut down, and even fines from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Sustaining and Growing Your List
The initial email message we send always encourages the recipients to opt-in to your own personal list. This is achieved through a proprietary mail-list management system. Recipients of the original mail can click a link that takes them to a subscription (opt-in) form on your web site. Implementing a subscribe form also encourages web site visitors to opt-in for your future messages. This process helps build your own targeted mailing list and reduces your reliance on 3rd-party list vendors.

Communicating an Effective Message
Once your list is in place, the next step is to develop a compelling and informative message. NetCentric provides the expertise to craft a message that will inspire interest and generate qualified leads and sales. When your message is complete, our email system reviews your message for compliance with federal laws, for effectiveness against spam filters, and even makes suggestions that help ensure high deliverability rates. The system also enables you to segment your list by demographic, geographic, or market segments and target those segments with more personalized messages. Messages might include the recipient's name, company, market, town, and more. This powerful email system also ensures that recipients receive their message in a format that they can read - either HTML (pictures and text), text only, multi-part MIME. Each message is designed not only to inspire the recipient to visit your web site, but also to evaluate your offering, and build notoriety for your company, products, and services.

Sample of a report for tracking email communications. Note the ability to tell what was delivered and
undelivered, who opened their messages, and who
clicked through to the web site.

Gauging Your Campaign Effectiveness
Your campaign doesn't stop there. Once your message is sent, our robust message-tracking center begins to record your mail campaign results. For instance, it reports if an email address failed (bounced) while it continues to attempt to contact that recipient. If a message does bounce, the system knows why it bounced and can make recommendations to resolve the failure. More importantly, our tracking can report activity down to the recipient level. We can identify which user clicked on what link and how many times they read the message and visited your web site. In other words, statistical reporting is not just cumulative but also independent to the recipient. This information makes future message targeting simpler and more effective.

Handling Unsubscribes
Those recipients who no longer wish to receive your messages may do so with every message sent. Each message contains a link to unsubscribe (opt-out) from the list. This makes managing your lists a snap. To gauge your campaign's effectiveness, tracking reports are also made available for recipients who unsubscribe.

Success Not Spam
NetCentric's experience, ethical approach, creative approach, and robust mail systems help ensure your email marketing campaign will be a success. It provides all the components you need to target and communicate your message, compel your recipients to act, and follow up on their progress.